The festive season means a lot of games being played over a very short span, the Premier League clubs end up playing 3 games in just 7 days and while the Boxing day fixtures had barely ended, Game week 19 was up and ready on the 28th of December, Liverpool and Swansea will be play on the 29th of December.
Before the New Year fixtures start, there were some rather tasty fixtures played with Chelsea going away to face 4th place Southampton, Tottenham taking on Manchester United and Arsenal playing a London derby at West Ham, the last fixture of the day was another cracker with Newcastle hosting Everton. With week 19 of the Premier League almost complete, we provide the 5 talking points from the games.
Manchester United in form but not the finished article
Louis Van Gaal stated in a recent interview that he thinks he can still win the Premier League this season and based on current form he wasn’t wrong, Manchester United drew 0-0 with Tottenham but in reality could have won the game easily had it not be Hugo Lloris’ great saves for Tottenham. Manchester United seem to have made this new formation with 3 at the back and Rooney playing behind the strikers work well but there still are a few issues to iron out for Van Gaal.
They have won 6 of their last 8 games and are unbeaten in their last 8, which proves that things are starting to click for the Red Devils and with more games coming up for Chelsea and Manchester City in Europe, United could still have a say in the Premier League race.
Southampton & West Ham United deserve to be high up in the league
If the season started and someone predicted that with 19 games gone Southampton and West Ham United would be in the top 6, you would have called them a nutter. West Ham were one of the worst sides last season and were on the brink of sacking their manager last year while Southampton not only lost their best players to other clubs, they even lost their manager to Tottenham but both clubs have done extremely well in the league and play good attacking football.
Ronaldo Koeman and Sam Allardyce are doing the right things and the league table does not lie, if the big clubs like Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton don’t get things done right, they might miss out on European games next season.
Fixtures getting to the big clubs
All the big clubs have to deal with the fixture congestion and playing so many games in Europe and in the Premier League and cup games in such a short time seems to play its part. Arsenal were lucky to get their win as they were dominated by West Ham at least in terms of possession, Chelsea drew, so did Manchester City after they were up 2-0 against Burnley and even Manchester United looked to fizz out in the second half against Tottenham.
With none of the big clubs winning convincingly, it just shows how much a fixture congestion affects even the big clubs and that other teams can still get to the big clubs. They still have the New year’s day fixture to play; we might get a few surprises on that game week as well.
Worrying times for Everton
What a season it has been, a season of changes for both Merseyside clubs, while Liverpool look nothing like the title challengers they were last season, Everton have been incredibly poor as well. They have lost 6 out of their last 8 games and this loss to Newcastle, a team that has been blowing hot and cold just confirms Roberto Martinez’ problems.
Everton had a wonderful season last year and qualified for the Europa League and could have actually made it into the top 4 had it not been for a dip in form at the end of the season. The dip seems to have continued at the start of this season and unless Martinez fixes this situation the season could be a disaster he might have to pay for.
Arsenal starting to get it right
Arsenal beat West Ham 2-1, while they weren’t at their best and had to hold on to win the game, they are starting to grind out results and get things done right. They might have dropped a couple of points against Liverpool but their battling displays against QPR and West Ham shows they have another side to their game.
Arsenal sit in 5th place just behind Southampton on goal difference. Arsene Wenger has always stated that getting 4th is the minimum for the club and even though they didn’t start the season well, they might have turned a corner and look good for a 4th position finish.
Picture courtesy: The Guardian, The Telegraph & the Independent